Terra Preta de Indio dark Soil earth Mystery

Terra Preta de Indio “dark. Soil earth” Mystery of the Amazon Charcoal Amazon Basin, Brazil How did the native Amazon tribes create these reduced carbon Soil Minerals Carbon (Portuguese) reduced carbon remarkably fertile and productive soils? 1867 : Ballard S. Dunn, Confederate exile Local farmers prize terra preta High Carbon (SOM) content Conservation Grassland • dug up Home and sold as potting soil book: Brazil: for Southerners Terra Preta Ferralsol up to 9%Minnesota • compared yields upwith to three fold asdark great as lauds high fertility of. 5% Amazon soil in other soils How have these remarkablesometimes soils sustained surrounding infertile tropical soils over 20% their sustained fertility in intensive use tocenturies? two. Herbert meters deep 1879 explorer Smith fertility and productivity for: • one five tales of Amazon in Scribner's Monthly: Small Patches “extraordinary fecundity of (50 cane fields… Age: 800 -4000 years • average: 20 hectares acres) What can we learn from these remarkable to dating (charcoal) “stalks tenhectares feet high… big as a wrist… • radio-carbon 350 (865 soils acres) reported research: 6000 years & in on. Amazon… bluffs "rich • recent ‘near terrasettlements preta ’… best sustain soil fertility and productivity today? pottery sherds “fine, • embedded dark loam… often two feet thick" • animal & fish bones, cultural debris High nutrient content 1966: Wim Sombroek (Dutch; 1944 -2003) Can this method to create tropical provide Calcium &soils Phosphorus Made from Ferralsol or Acrisol published his book: Amazon Soils Nitrogen predominant soils inpreta Amazon first • scientific study of terra insights to improve temperate climate soils? Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) • acidic, notoriously infertile 1992: publishes his first book 1992 Sombroek • poor nutrient capacity on terracarbon preta for in carbon Can this method to sequester soilsequestration help High Microbial activity Aerial Surveys 2002: Sombroek forms Terra Preta Nova 2002 us reverse global warming and climate change? reef” • up toon 10% of total land area to“microbial use char farms as a carbon sink nitrogenous bacteria fixing) • able to feed 5 -10 (nitrogen million people click 2007: first international biochar conference to continue

Terra Preta Increased is biochar a Fertility nutrient? • higher Phosphorus & Calcium In normal soil, biochar breaks down very slowly • higher Nitrogen (oxidation, weathering & digestion) • –increased nutrient availability over centuries , rather than months • lower acidity Biochar isn’t consumed by soil life • higher p. H buffering • Biochar water retention freshly made is sterile, • physical structure with no biological activity • biological– habitat (microflora & fauna) no microbes Adding only biochar to soil retards plant growth for up to two years Fertilizers must be added with biochar terra preta Biochar is a sponge acrisol typical soil to. Amazon hold water & nutrients, infertile and a substrate to provide habitat & housing for microbes biochar click to continue

Terra Preta Global Research 2001 biochar benefits cation exchange capacity increased (Glaser) water-holding capacity 18% increase (Glaser) biomass growth 266% increase (Steiner 2 nd year) 324% increase (Kishimoto & Sugiura) plant nitrogen uptake doubled (Steiner) click to continue farm chemical runoff reduced (Yelverton)

Terra Preta Research 3 -Year Field Trials Rice & Sorghum 366% 267% 881% Christoph Steiner 1; W. G. Teixeira 2; Johannes Lehmann 3; W. Zech 1 1 Institute of Soil Science, Univ. of Bayreuth, Germany 2 Embrapa Amazonia Ocidental, Manaus, Brazil 3 Dept of Crop and Soil Sciences, Cornell Univ. , USA click to continue

Terra Preta Research Bark Biochar & Fertilizer biochar + NPK control biochar + NPK NPK Effect of bark biochar and fertilizer on plant growth and soil properties in south Sumatra click Yamato 2004 unpublished to continue